Typical agricultural work machines are commonly supported and propelled by pneumatic tires. Pneumatic tires provide a great deal of cushioning or bounce as these machines encounter disparities in the surface of the soil the machines are working. These machines have therefore not required or have not been provided with suspension systems.
Steel track laying machines have long been used in earthworking, construction, and agriculture, because of the benefits of improved traction and reduced soil compaction. However, these machines are heavy and much slower moving than the pneumatic tired machines and work in environments not requiring suspension to any great degree.
With the introduction and acceptance of endless elastomeric track laying machines in the agriculture industry, new challenges have arisen. These track laying machines have been designed to perform the same operations as the pneumatic tired machines while offering benefits provided by the steel track laying counterparts. However, these machines need to be flexible to change between a variety of row crop spacing and travel at higher operating speeds for roading the work machine between different fields. Therefore, it is desirable to have a support system that is flexible and readily adaptable to varied row crop spacing, and provides suspension to reduce the shocks to the machine and operator.
The present invention is directed to overcome one or more of the problems as set forth above.